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AuraBoyX
AuraBoyX
Join Date 10/2005
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Serious Suggestion for the Mouse Wheel (ZOOM) in the Tech Tree...

December 8, 2007 3:50:34 AM from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
I have a suggestion for zooming in and out with the mouse wheel in the tech tree...

Basically I am a digital artist. I use many programs. Photoshop Illustrator, Corel Draw, etc...

For many years I have also used a program called Paint Shop Pro. I tend to use version 7.0 for a 'light' program that doesn't take up a lot of system resources to run. Well... (this DOES all apply to a point I am getting to)... In Paint Shop Pro version 7 (and latter versions too I believe), there is a function of the mouse wheel that is EXTREMELY organic and practical...

The mouse wheel is used by the program to zoom in and out. Scroll forward to zoom in, backwards to zoom out. Sounds simple… But what makes it phenomenal and indispensable is the specific nature of the zoom in function... Basically the program will take into account where the mouse pointer is located on the screen and use it as a center point for zooming in. So whenever you zoom in, wherever your mouse pointer is located, it will zoom into that direct area. If you zoom out, move the pointer over another area/location and zoom back in it will re-center the zoom area to where the pointer was located. The zoom always remains in the center of the cursor.

This would be EXTREMELY helpful in the GalCiv2 tech tree... You would be able to zoom in and out without needing to scroll around or drag the screen around. Just hover the mouse pointer over the spacific tech you want to see (or the branch) scroll the wheel inwards and viola! It will zoom right into what you are looking at. If anyone is not understanding what I mean get a copy of Paint Shop Pro and just open a large graphic and try zomming in and out with a mouse wheel... You will get what I mean right away. It astounds me that Adobe doesn’t implement this feature into Photoshop as it is such an absolutely natural way of moving around the screen…. In fact when I use Photoshop I want to toss my computer out the window because it does not have this feature.

If this (simple?) modification was made to the mouse wheel zoom, it would really make the tech tree an extension of the hand (even in it's split screen incarnation). Hell, it could even be applied to the general game map.

Just a thought.
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AuraBoyX
FireBender
Join Date 10/2006
+7
Reply #1 December 8, 2007 4:33:20 AM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Cool idea. Would help me in the Overall game map.
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AuraBoyX
pndrev
Join Date 05/2007
+30
Reply #2 December 8, 2007 4:48:00 AM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Zooming in on the mousepointer is also what Supreme Commander does. Extremely helpful for quickly changing your focus. I'm all for incorporating this in GalCiv2.
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AuraBoyX
SithUK
Join Date 01/2003
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Reply #3 December 8, 2007 5:52:57 AM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Yes, please! Scrolling the tech tree could definitely be better.
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AuraBoyX
Karryle
Join Date 07/2007
+1
Reply #4 December 8, 2007 8:15:59 AM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Yes sounds very cool. It's true that the tech tree is a bit annoying when you zoom out : I always have to recenter the screen. This small tweak can be a huge improvement for the game.
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AuraBoyX
Farrout000
Join Date 03/2006
+2
Reply #5 December 8, 2007 10:21:46 AM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Yeah, this is a great idea, Visio works this way as well.
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AuraBoyX
FireBender
Join Date 10/2006
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Reply #6 December 8, 2007 11:17:09 AM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
I really like this idea. Not because of the tech tree but because of the main map potential.
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AuraBoyX
Megajames75
Join Date 07/2007
+2
Reply #7 December 8, 2007 11:17:18 AM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Quite a few programs do this, I also agree it would work very well in Gal Civ II.
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AuraBoyX
Starstriker1
Join Date 03/2006
+5
Reply #8 December 8, 2007 2:22:28 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Hell yes, I've wanted to see this ever since playing the supreme commander beta.
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AuraBoyX
xXAequitasXx
Join Date 02/2006
0
Reply #9 December 8, 2007 4:19:54 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums

I really like this idea. Not because of the tech tree but because of the main map potential.


Seconded, would be immensely useful on [snicker] immense maps.
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AuraBoyX
rls669
Join Date 06/2007
+2
Reply #10 December 8, 2007 5:59:30 PM
from Stardock ForumsStardock Forums
Yes, definitely.

I have a sort of similar request. When I click "Find" the screen only centers on the ship if it's currently off-screen. If it's onscreen but not centered it does just highlights it, which isn't helpful since if I knew where the ship was I wouldn't be trying to freaking FIND it in the first place. Highlighting just isn't enough with a high res screen, zoomed out enough so there might be dozens of ships onscreen at once.

So I either have to scroll away or zoom in closer to get the bloody thing offscreen and click FIND again, or enable skip moves left from autopilot, neither of which is very acceptable.
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